


Words That Are Hard To Say

by stealyourfood



Series: The Intention of Communication [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, polyam - Freeform, the relationships are spoiler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24487630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealyourfood/pseuds/stealyourfood
Summary: Consistent with Canon timelineMaki makes a decisionNo relationship tags because spoilers.
Series: The Intention of Communication [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768912
Kudos: 5





	Words That Are Hard To Say

It wasn’t that long ago that Maki realised what was going on. But she had lied to herself, convincing herself that what she had felt was nothing more than platonic affection for her friend, her senior, and her mentor. She was never great in the art of persuasion, and soon, her denial crumbled away and she resigned to her feelings. 

And after 3 months of pondering, she had finally made her difficult decision. 

* * *

There were words that were harder to say than others.

But those were words she needed to say.

But oh boy, did she have some competition. Amongst the first years, Hanayo was unsurprisingly quite the ardent fan, secretly fawning over her senior. Maki didn’t really think much of it, until she saw how well they got along. Laughing, sharing the same interests… 

Hanayo was a rival, indeed. A fearsome rival, if her love for idols did not override anything else. Thankfully, Rin had little interest in anything other than ramen and the power of friendship. 

* * *

_“Yeah, I would totally go for it!”_

* * *

It was actually Rin’s encouragement that helped her take this giant, dangerous leap of blind faith. Well, it wasn’t so much blind faith as it was blind hope. In the case of Rin’s encouragement, it was the blind and clueless leading the blind.

Lost in her own thoughts, Maki strolled along the corridor, barely aware of her surroundings. School had ended, and most clubs did not have any activities. Few students stayed back, leaving most of the classes empty. The sunlight streaming through the windows hit Maki’s face, then danced off, shining down on the floor. Maki squinted, realising she was in the wrong direction. She was on the second-years’ floor.

* * *

The second years were embroiled in some weird love triangle by themselves, even though Maki did suspect that Honoka was not the only person Kotori and Umi were pursuing. Still, it surprised her indeed, to see their attention diverted from the energetic second-year to a third-year student. Of course, she had been foolish enough to think Kotori and Umi were interested in Tsubasa. 

It was during their valentine’s promotion, where Kotori and Umi had prepared chocolates for everyone. Kotori’s handmade chocolates were wrapped in cute little pouches, each bearing coloured ribbons matching each member. Umi’s were a lot simpler, but the intricate wrapping for each of her boxes were stunning. After passing them to Honoka, they glanced at each other - probably a silly dare, and dashed off to the third year classrooms. 

Maki knew. She was there after all, hiding her intentions behind more lies. The third years were more astute than the others, and could tell that she had an ulterior motive.

_“Why are you really here, Maki-chan?”_

That teasing look paired with that voice… completely overwhelmed, Maki had sputtered incoherent nonsense before scampering off, nearly tripping on her way down the stairs. 

* * *

The third years… well, there was only one serious competitor. 

Toujou Nozomi. 

She had 2 more years on Maki. This meant more experience, more familiarity, and more time to make her move. Or moves. 

Maki sighed. Hanayo had convinced her that it would be fine. Nozomi was just teasing; she wasn’t seriously contemplating, so on and on. 

Maki hoped that was the case. She certainly hoped she didn’t run into-

“Ah, Maki-chan.”

Maki froze. Ah, that was some bad luck. 

Purple eyes met green ones. 

Nozomi had her usual mischievous smile, and raised her eyebrows.

“So late and you’re still in school? If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re here to find a favourite senior.”

Maki scoffed, but felt her cheeks lighting up in betrayal.

Nozomi approached her, bending over to whisper into her ears, “but I know better.”

Red hair swirled around, almost smacking Nozomi. “What?!”

Nozomi sighed, resting her chin on a palm. “Well, it can’t be helped that Maki-chan is soooo obvious.”

Maki bristled with embarrassment, ready to pounce. Pounce? Nay, flee. It was Nozomi, after all.

“Maki-chan, you know how I feel about this. After all, I’m with Eli. Don’t worry.” Nozomi patted her junior’s shoulder. “She’s oblivious, but at least Nico isn’t as oblivious as her.”

“I never asked!” Maki scowled. 

“I’m actually curious about your proposal. Have you told Nico?”

Maki huffed. “Of course!” 

She lied. 

“Well then… good luck.” Nozomi patted Maki’s shoulders once more, and walked off, waving lazily.

“Of course Nico knows…” Maki muttered. That wasn’t a complete lie. In one of their usual bickering, Nico had given her the idea for this. It was Nico’s suggestion. Kind of. 

And with the last few steps, she stopped in front of the student council room. 

* * *

She knocked, her hands trembling slightly. Had Nozomi already told her?

Some words were harder to say than others. 

She could just back out now, change her words, put on a facade, let the door remain closed-

The door opened, instead of the usual “come in”.

“Oh, Maki-chan.”

Maki winced, and stepped in out of habit. Great. She had trapped herself. 

Eli closed the door, and Maki nearly stumbled in shock when she saw Nico there. 

Nico waved smugly, and winked at Maki. 

“Perfect timing. Nozomi had talked to me about something.” Eli said.

But did she understand what Nozomi was saying?

“I see. I have something to say.” Maki started, fairly confidently. But the words just wouldn’t come out. She imagined Umi’s voice, _“Shameless!”_

“It’s okay, some words are hard to say, aren’t they?” Eli looked on, as understanding as ever. 

Nico was sniggering, and that Maki knew. She knew that Eli already knew. 

“Come on, Maki-chan. You need to say it out loud.” Nico smirked.

_“The more the merrier”_

Maki took a deep breath.

“Eli, I have a proposition. Nozomi, Nico, and I have discussed this already.”

Eli smiled.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> AN: HECC there were so many things I wanted Maki to say instead of that last line but they were too meme
> 
> I'm also importing some of my fics over from Tumblr. mostly LL, so please stay tuned. Thank you for reading!


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